Shapes, pen, pencil and markup

Shapes are the building blocks you reach for most: a rectangle for a card’s background, an ellipse for an avatar, a line for a divider. When no shape fits, the Pen draws any outline you like, point by point. The Pencil, Highlighter, Eraser and Laser pointer are for marking up and talking through a design rather than building it.

Find them all in the Insert menu in the top bar: shapes under Shapes, the drawing tools under Draw.

Draw a shape

1. Pick a tool: R Rectangle, O Ellipse, L Line, ⇧L Arrow, or Polygon and Star from Insert > Shapes.
2. Drag on the canvas. Or click once for a shape at its default size, centred where you clicked (a line starts where you click).

Drawn inside a frame, the shape goes into that frame. After one shape the tool goes back to Move (V).

• Hold ⇧ while drawing a line or arrow to keep it at 45° steps.
• To round a rectangle’s corners, use Corner radius in the Design tab; the button beside it sets each corner on its own.
• Colour, stroke and shadow are in the Design tab. See Fill, stroke, shadow and blur.

Resize and rotate

• Drag a handle to resize. Hold ⇧ on a corner to keep the proportions, ⌥ to resize from the centre.
• Point just outside a corner and drag to rotate. Hold ⇧ to turn in 15° steps.
• Rotate 90°, Flip horizontal (⇧H) and Flip vertical (⇧V) are in the Layout section.

Draw with the pen

Press P for the Pen.

1. Click to place a point. Drag while placing to pull out a curve.
2. Keep clicking to add points.
3. Click the first point to close the shape, or press ↩ or Esc to finish an open path.

Edit points

Select a shape or vector and press ↩, or double-click it, to edit its points.

Action	How
Move a point	drag it
Add a point	click the path
Smooth or sharp point	double-click a point
Move one handle on its own	⌥-drag a handle
Delete points	⌫
Finish editing	↩ or Esc

A rectangle, ellipse, polygon or star stays that shape until you actually move a point. The moment you do, it becomes a vector (named Vector unless you renamed it), and its shape settings no longer apply. Opening the points and leaving without a change keeps it as it was.

To turn several shapes into one vector, select them and press ⌘E (Flatten). See Masks and boolean shapes.

Pencil and highlighter

• Pencil (⇧P) draws a freehand line, 3 px and dark. It stays on after each stroke, so you can keep sketching.
• Highlighter (in Insert > Draw) draws a thick yellow stroke that multiplies over what is underneath, like a marker on paper.

Both make ordinary vector layers: select one afterwards to change its colour or weight in Stroke.

Eraser and laser pointer

• Eraser (E): click a layer, or drag across several, to delete them. It leaves frames alone and skips locked layers. A toast says how many went; ⌘Z brings them back.
• Laser pointer (K): drag to draw a glowing trail that fades by itself. Use it to point at things while you present or talk through a screen. Nothing is added to the file.

Sticky notes

Insert > Sticky note adds a note you can type on straight away. Use it for comments to yourself or your team that should sit right on the canvas.

Shortcuts

Tool	Keys
Rectangle	R
Ellipse	O
Line	L
Arrow	⇧L
Pen	P
Pencil	⇧P
Eraser	E
Laser pointer	K
Edit points	↩ or double-click
Flatten	⌘E

Catches

• Editing points turns a shape into a vector. If you want to keep the rectangle’s corner radius, change it before you move its points.
• Holding ⇧ while dragging out a new shape does not make it square. Draw it, then hold ⇧ on a corner handle to fix the proportions, or type equal W and H.
• Polygon and Star have no point count to set. Edit their points if you need a different outline.
• The eraser deletes whole layers. It does not rub out part of a stroke.